Writing isn't all it's cracked up to be...

[Boneman]

Apparently, for one Steph Swainston, anyway! Despite critical success (and there are book reviews on the chrons here) she wants to be a chemistry teacher... and is giving up writing to do so. Considering how hard we're all trying to go the reverse route, I'm quite dumbfounded. I'm kind of caught between disbelief and admiration, and I hope this story hasn't been on here before, and I missed it, in which case many apologies.

http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-e...ston-I-need-to-return-to-reality-2309804.html

Quite sad that her life as a writer is isolating her, (why didn't she try and find the balance through social contact with writers groups, courses, or part-time jobs?) and how she speaks about fans says more about her than the fans, I feel. I'm strangely saddened by this story, but I do hope she finds the fulfilment that writing didn't give.

Ps: takes forever for that link to connect to The Independent... if you google her name, about five entries down is the story.

 

[Jo Zebedee]

When I went self employed, lots of people said the same thing about the isolation etc, and it's really not for everyone. But, I think you can balance it, by establishing networks, by finding your support amongst others like you, and by getting out some days as well.

I bet, though, she continues to write; it just sounds like she didn't want to write to order.

 

[The Judge]

I can't get to the Independent article either here or going direct. In the meantime, here's a comment from Mark Charan Newton which is very sensible http://markcnewton.com/2011/07/10/steph-swainstons-exit/

 

[HareBrain]

I can't get to the Independent article either here or going direct.http://markcnewton.com/2011/07/10/steph-swainstons-exit/

Try this Google cached version.

 

[Forgotten Realms]

That's a pity for her. She should have kept it up as a hobby. I consider writing only as a hobby or to let my soul speak but I could never win a bread with it.

 

[AnyaKimlin]

To be honest if I was that miserable doing it - I'd probably give up as well. For me I am isolated anyway my illness (ME) has more than taught me how to deal with it, and writing one or two books a year is something I find fairly easy without a deadline right now. (largely because I have no life lol)

However I find my writing fun - and I'd hate for that to change. I'd personally rather publish straight to kindle.

She seems to be happier as a Chemistry teacher which is great for her.

 

[TheTomG]

There are psychological studies that show doing something as a job changes how you feel about it. The ones I recall looked at sport, and how when someone moved from amateur to professional, they rated their enjoyment of their sport less.

If you do it and don't make your living at it, somewhere in your mind is something that says "I must really love doing this!" - and the same thing in your mind changes to "I am doing this because it's my job and I need money to eat" if you move to professional status.

The "second book" problem is the same thing that besets bands with their second album. They spend ALL of their musical career writing their first album, and that can be as long as they like. Then they sign up, and suddenly they have a deadline on the second album. No more have you had the first 20 years of your life to think, edit, change, alter, adapt and perfect; now you have 12 months and have to produce something just as good.

For some, it's not where they want to be. Sounds like she is a good writer, in terms of the art, but not a good professional writer - PLEASE NOTE I mean she doesn't like all that goes with that, the fandom, the deadlines, the publisher expectations, the need to appear on blogs and tweets; not that she's no good at it, just that she doesn't want all that.

Which is exactly fair enough! We should all do what makes us happy, if we can be allowed to do it. Since so many have enjoyed her writing, perhaps she will continue writing, as a hobby, in her own time frames, and the self-publishing option will be there for the fans to get a hold of it, and for her to make a nice bit of extra cash on the side of her teacher salary.

And there are good thoughts there for us - do we want to be professional, should we be fortunate enough to be offered the chance? Do we want to sign to a big publisher? Do we want to try and make it on our own without someone telling us what to do explicitly? Or do we want to just be hobbiests?

There's no inherently better option (no snobbery from anyone, please!) just whatever fits you, your personality and your life best! More power to this lady for following what she wants to do in life.

 

[The Judge]

Try this Google cached version.

Thanks!

It's a great pity she was made unhappy, but if she'd had problems with either the quality of her output at one-book-a-year or she felt uncomfortable with all the demands made on her from fans/the convention rigmarole, she could surely have asked her agent about how she could satisfy both her own needs and those of her publisher.

I also wonder if she will in fact be any happier teaching, once the initial euphoria has worn off. She might be among people all day (frankly, my idea of hell...), and she might be doing what society regards as a more important job, but she'll find other stresses and demands which can be equally oppressing and soul-destroying.

 

[Ursa major]

Isn't teaching a rather strange choice for someone who doesn't want to write to a deadline, fears the reaction of her readers and wants a more social environment?

I assume that:

• teachers have to prepare their own lessons, whether by adaptation or original creation, and to do so in a timely manner;
• there will be pretty immediate and continuous feedback from the fans... er... children, of which not all is going to be positive;
• if the children are very young, she isn't necessarily going to get much inter-adult interaction for large parts of her working day.

And on top of all that, her new work is important. If people buy one's book but don't get much out of it, that's one thing. To fail to get across one's lessons to one's pupils is a rather more serious matter.


I'm not saying that she has made the wrong choice - I assume she's gone into the pros and cons of her intended new profession - but it doesn't look like the job with the closest match with her list of requirements.


Anyway, good luck to her.

 

[HareBrain]

I agree it seems strange that she doesn't appear to have tried for some kind of compromise -- now she has a name and a following, I find it hard to believe her publishers and the chain buyers wouldn't accept a book every two years or something. GRR Martin taking several times as long to produce A Dance With Dragons doesn't seem to have done its sales much harm.

And as Mark Charan Newton points out in the article TJ linked to a few posts above (well worth reading, BTW) the whole internet thing is, to some extent, as much of a problem as you make it. I was heartened to read his view that now that it's next-to-impossible for a new author to become a strong internet presence quickly (because there are just so many of them) the pressure to do so might be taken off slightly.

 

[thaddeus6th]

It is a little sad, but if the job's not for her then I think her decision to do something about it instead of trying to slog through the misery makes sense. Hopefully she'll enjoy being a teacher more, and maybe one day do some writing as a hobby.

 

[Dozmonic]

I assume that:

• teachers have to prepare their own lessons, whether by adaptation or original creation, and to do so in a timely manner;
• there will be pretty immediate and continuous feedback from the fans... er... children, of which not all is going to be positive;
• if the children are very young, she isn't necessarily going to get much inter-adult interaction for large parts of her working day.

Generally teachers have to reference everything in their lessons that is covering parts of the national curriculum. A teacher back at college showed me the amount of bureaucracy she had to do for my accounting class and I can't say I envied her. It put me off wanting to go into teaching because althought I'd love to be a teacher, I would hate to have to do that level of paperwork to say I'm doing x, y and z. Especially when x, y and z are of little importance or relevance to me

I think the article said she was going in to teaching a-level which, even though the children are older, is no easier an age to teach. Simply put, unless you're teaching with the open university or something where people are willing going out of their own motivation to learn - teaching will be hard.

Personally, I'd stick with the writing

 

[Jo Zebedee]

As an adult education lecturer in my spare time ha ha, teaching at any level's hard; the prep, the marking, the tutorial support. But so's writing, and so's being self employed; at least when I'm teaching I'm getting company and feedback, and if it's going well instant gratification. If its a bad lesson then yes, as Ursa says, urgh.

 

[Coragem]

I always remember interviews I've read by GRRM.

He's said he doesn't exactly enjoy writing, but rather "having written". Also, he has said, "Writing is hard!"

I relate very much to this.

I've done some hard jobs, but there can be something very soul destroying about writing on the bad days. Sometimes some of us sacrifice a LOT, only to get stuck, or take a wrong turn, and "feel like" we have nothing to show for it.

I've always written in some form (non-fiction for much of my life) and I don't think I could ever not do it. But sometimes I find it SO HARD.

I comfort myself, because "they" say that the best writers find it hard. Certainly, many of may favourite writers need a lot of time -- GRRM, Guy Gavriel Kay, CS Friedman, and Robin Hobb.

Coragem.

 

[Flugel Meister]

Writing can be a fairly lonely affair. But if you persevere the rewards can outweigh the rough stuff.

 

[Interference]

I suspect some people survive "isolation" better than others. For some, the arts, of course that includes writing, silly, are attractive because it relieves the isolation and replaces loneliness with something, perhaps, far more intriguing.

But these words, like solitary, lonesome, anti-social, it seems to me, are words that other people use about artists. I don't, of course, know much about anyone else, but I never feel lonely when I'm writing, even if I'm alone, sometimes for days. I definitely never feel lonely when I'm recording, though that can take weeks. Solitude is welcome in those circumstances and the interruptions of ordinary things can be both frustrating and, on occasion, infuriating.

One thing I've noticed, though, over the years (and this comes from the title of this thread more than the subject) is that the longer I leave it to complete my work, the more likely that someone else will address the same or similar ideas in one of the professional media - and not always better. I'm becoming increasingly conscious now that what I like to consider my good ideas aren't special and even the way I tell 'em is no longer (if it ever was) unique.

 

[Toby Frost]

Thought-provoking stuff.

Firstly, and at the risk of sounding like a whinging git, especially given that being published has been one of my major aims in life, I can see some of the points she's making, especially with the pressure to write more. I personally have been very lucky in this regard and all the people I've met have been very nice (even the girl who introduced herself as my stalker at a convention). However the attitude of some fans to George Martin is weird. "OMG he's middle aged and a bit fat so he'd better write some more before he drops dead of pies!" I remember a few people, not on this board, getting really quite angry when he went on a falconry trip instead of sitting in his (luxury, gold-plated) garrett scribbling out pages.

I don't think people have the right to say that. It's his business, and they can get as angry as they like, but ultimately he, like anyone else, has a right to walk away and take the consequences, as does Ms Swainston. As for the book-a-year issue, it has been some time since big publishing was run as anything other than a profit-only business, and artistic elements lie some way behind. If it was possible to sell people blank books, they'd be selling.

Which doesn't mean that I think it's right. I get annoyed with people, some very prestigious, who when discussing the state of the industry say "Well, that's what it's like" as though this finishes the issue: it doesn't, because even if something does happen, that doesn't make it right. Something is wrong with publishing, where someone like Ms Swainston doesn't seem to have the option to work for a middle-size publisher at a gentler pace, without having to do all the internet nonsense*.

As with so much in this industry, I can't help but suspect that the problem is too much power in too few hands, and the distorting of the market that results.

*The only reason I'm here is because I want to be!

 

[Anne Lyle]

Odd to see this story crop up now - I blogged about it back in July, when it first broke on Twitter:

http://www.annelyle.com/blog/musings/gestating-elephants/

 

[AnyaKimlin]

@AnneLyle love the graphics on your blog: elegant, intelligent and kind of creepy at the same time And what a great idea with the Playmobil

I'm kind of glad to read this - I'm relatively new to writing and initially when I started writing internet forums were full of write one book concentrate on that don't think series etc. Trouble was I had three ideas (one fantasy, one detective and one which is sort of hybrid between the two) - all had more than one story potential.

I've held off seriously submitting my first until I had the first of all three done, a first draft of the second of all three and plotted a third. I'm aware with my ME I could struggle with a two book contract. It's beginning to feel like a more sensible decision. (worst that happens is they are awful and I self publish lol )

I'm not going to be gutted if they never get published so would it be sensible just to get all the second books completed as well ? As long as my ME doesn't get bad should only be about a year away ? Do you know if children's stories have tighter deadlines? Some of the junior fiction seems to come out at a great rate of knots.

 

[Anne Lyle]

I think your "one polished, one drafted and one planned" is very sensible - it usually takes a while to get an agent and a contract, so you still have something to work on in the meantime, whilst having a backup plan in case you strike it lucky. I'm of the opinion that time spent writing is never wasted, as long as you accept you may have to revise your work later for a publisher.

I can't speak for children's fiction - it's a different market, and one I have zero experience of. You might want to talk to some folks on Absolute Write, where they cover all genres and markets.